Eternity

Never too late to Leave a Legacy

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“If we knew how great the grandkids would be we’d have had them first!” some people say. For a parent exhausted and discouraged by years of struggling with just getting it right for a day, even one hour of grandparenting can feel lile the balm of Gilead! What can be more refreshing than pushing your granddaughter on a swing or holding your grandson’s hand as you crunch through Autumn leaves? But unlike the sense of never ending and overwhelming responsibility that being a parent brings; grandparenting comes wrapped in the sweet sadness of knowing it may not be for long.

I have lived enough to know that one day this time will pass and I will no longer be here with them. No amount of hugs or kisses can change the calendar or slow the pendulum of life’s clock. But what I can do today is to be sure of what legacy I leave behind. Will I leave them a list of my fears and frustrations or will I pass on to them my faith? Will they weep and say, “Grand-dad went to be with the Lord” or will they have His peace knowing that my life has been wholly His? What a great hope lies before us! We can still leave behind a great legacy…not that we lived trouble free but that through every mighty storm He has been our mighty Savior!

Today’s Service

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In my quiet time this morning it was as if God held up a mirror to show me how little I valued those moments compared to Him. Yes I lingered for a brief prayer and spent time in His word; but all the while the wheels of my mind were sprinting ahead towards my future plans. Yet as the apostle Peter points out to us –

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 2 Peter 3:8

We all too often lose the value and purpose of the moment of prayer and quiet because the hurry within our hearts drowns out the still small voice of God. We demean the intimate contentment with the Lord Jesus as if something later in the day or tomorrow or next year has more value in His eyes.

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But God delights in the moment. He rests in it as Jesus rested by the well. He has no sense of hurry or fearful anxiety of urgency.

He is never forced into action in a crisis. He rests in the moment like a butterfly who happily enjoys each flower without wishing He could hurry on to the next. He is not only the way and the truth – He is also like the clock of life itself and all time stands still in His presence. There is neither tomorrow nor yesterday with Him. He is the Great I Am! Whatever humble word, shy smile or simple sacrifice Jesus gives us for today is more precious to Him than any act of service we are planning for the future. The God who knows the beginning from the end also knows our hearts. If we will simply walk with Him by faith in this moment, His promise is that He will walk with us all down through the corridors of eternity!

 

 

Heaven’s Treasures

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I dreamed I was at heaven’s door

I heard its hinges creak

Around its frame a light shone out

As it opened for the King

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“What have you brought?” He asked

“From your time on earth now through”

I didn’t know what I could say

I just had to tell the truth

 

So I talked about the mission’s trips

And how each day I prayed

And how I often read His word

And all the tithes I gave

When I stopped – he paused

And then He gently said

Those were not from your truest heart

But just rituals instead”

“But the forgiveness you gave your parents

When divorce left you alone

And love you shared with strangers

When you opened up your home

And sorrowful repentant tears

And confessions in the night

Those are the things I treasure here

And are precious in my sight!”